Location: Sunnyvale, California
Work Arrangement: Hybrid
Contract Duration: 6 Months
Experience Required: 6+ Years
Employment Type: Contract
Job Summary
We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer specializing in data layer automation, backend development, and CI/CD engineering. The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience with Rust, Node.js, TypeScript, GraphQL, and automated software delivery pipelines.
The role focuses on engineering reliable, high-performance deployment workflows for a federated GraphQL data layer powered by a Rust-based federation router and multiple backend subgraphs. The successful candidate will build and maintain CI/CD pipelines, develop production code, automate schema validation, and implement safe deployment strategies to improve developer productivity and production reliability.
Primary Skills (Must-Have)
- Rust Programming,
- Node.js,
- TypeScript,
- GraphQL APIs and Federation,
- CI/CD Pipeline Development and Automation
- Backend and Platform Engineering
- Cargo Workspaces and Rust Build Optimization
- Docker and Kubernetes
- Automated Testing and Performance Benchmarking
- Canary and Progressive Deployment Strategies
Secondary Skills (Preferred)
- GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI, Buildkite, Tekton, or Argo,
- GraphQL Router and Subgraph Architecture,
- Schema Composition and Schema Registry Integration,
- GraphQL Breaking-Change Detection
- Rust Plugins and Coprocessors
- API Authentication and Caching
- Observability and Telemetry
- Service-Level Objectives (SLOs)
- Vulnerability Scanning and Dependency Management
- Artifact Signing and Build Provenance
- Blue-Green Deployment and Feature Flags
- Incident Response and Production Troubleshooting
Key Responsibilities
CI/CD and Release Automation
- Design, build, and maintain end-to-end CI/CD pipelines for a Rust-based GraphQL federation router.
- Automate Rust compilation, cross-platform builds, container image creation, testing, and progressive deployments.
- Optimize build performance through dependency caching, incremental builds, parallel execution, and reproducible build practices.
- Implement artifact signing, versioning, and build provenance controls.
- Develop automated quality gates for unit tests, integration tests, performance benchmarks, fuzz testing, and security scanning.
Rust and Node.js Development
- Write and maintain production Rust code for router plugins, coprocessors, authentication, caching, telemetry, and query governance.
- Develop Node.js and TypeScript services, command-line tools, test harnesses, and internal developer tooling.
- Improve the performance, reliability, and maintainability of backend platform components.
- Collaborate with the core router team to deliver production-ready enhancements.
GraphQL Schema Governance
- Build automated schema composition and validation workflows for federated GraphQL services.
- Implement breaking-change detection and operation compatibility checks.
- Integrate schema registry capabilities and gated publishing processes for subgraphs.
- Create reusable pipeline templates that help engineering teams test and deploy Node.js subgraphs safely.
Deployment Reliability and Observability
- Automate canary and staged rollouts using health checks and SLO-based promotion criteria.
- Implement fast rollback mechanisms and zero-downtime updates for configuration and application binaries.
- Monitor pipeline reliability, build duration, flaky-test rates, and time to production.
- Collaborate with infrastructure, platform, and security teams on environment provisioning, secrets management, and compliance.
- Support production incidents and continuously improve deployment safety and operational reliability.
Required Qualifications
- 6+ years of professional software engineering experience.
- Production experience developing software using Rust.
- Strong understanding of the Rust toolchain, including Cargo workspaces, features, cross-compilation, and build optimization.
- Strong Node.js and TypeScript development skills.
- Hands-on experience designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines for production services.
- Experience with GraphQL APIs, schema design, resolvers, and schema evolution.
- Familiarity with GraphQL federation and distributed backend services.
- Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and containerized deployments.
- Understanding of canary deployments, blue-green releases, feature flags, and rollback strategies.
- Experience with production observability, SLOs, and incident response.
- Strong problem-solving, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with internal CI/CD platforms or tools such as GitHub Actions, Buildkite, Jenkins, GitLab CI, Tekton, or Argo.
- Experience developing GraphQL router extensions, plugins, or coprocessors.
- Knowledge of performance regression detection, fuzz testing, and security automation.
- Experience implementing schema registry integrations and automated GraphQL governance.
- Familiarity with artifact signing, software supply-chain security, and reproducible builds.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs, as required by applicable law. Applicants who require a reasonable accommodation during the hiring process may request assistance.
Employment may be contingent upon the successful completion of job-related pre-employment screening, which may include background and reference checks and, where permitted by applicable law and applicable to the position, drug testing. All such screening will be conducted in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
